Participants and Alumni

FOCUS

First FOCUS cohort on campus during the inaugural Summer Institute held July 2019.

Current and Past Participants

Current Participants

FOCUS

Carmen De Miguel, phd

Assistant Professor
Dept. of Medicine, Div. of Nephrology
University of Alabama at Birmingham


FOCUS Small Research Project Title | Endothelin-1 and Dendritic Cells in Salt-Sensitive Hypertension


FOCUS

Lara Kovell, Md

Associate Professor
Dept. of Medicine, Div. of Cardiology
University of Massachusetts


FOCUS Small Research Project Title | Subclinical cardiovascular biomarkers in pregnancy with and without hypertension


FOCUS

Carla Lacerda, Phd

Assistant Professor
Department of Chemical Engineering
University of Texas at Tyler


FOCUS Small Research Project Title | Transcriptomics investigation of murine bicuspid aortic valves - effect of age and sex


FOCUS

Roberto Mota Alvidrez, md

Research Assistant Professor
Department of Surgery
University of Pittsburgh


FOCUS Small Research Project Title | Role of Cytosolic Phospholipase A2 in vascular wall lipid accumulation in atherosclerosis


FOCUS

Pearl Quijada, phd

Assistant Professor
Department of Integrative Biology and Physiology
University of California, Los Angeles


FOCUS Small Research Project Title | Transcriptomic analysis of non-cardiomyocytes in the border zone of the infarcted myocardium


FOCUS Alumni

2021-2022 Participants

FOCUS

Brian Aguado, phd

Assistant Professor
Department of Bioengineering
University of California, San Diego


FOCUS Small Research Project Title | Determining sex dimorphisms in valvular myofibroblasts using spatial transcriptomics


FOCUS

Karima Ait-Aissa, PHd

Research Assistant Professor
Department of Internal Medicine
University of Iowa


FOCUS Small Research Project Title | New approaches to mitigate radiation therapy-induced Brain-Blood Barrier disruption


FOCUS

Claudio Bravo, md

Assistant Professor
Department of Internal Medicine
University of Washington


FOCUS Small Research Project Title | Incidence and Outcomes of Late-Onset Right Ventricular Failure in Patients with Left Ventricular Assist Device


FOCUS

Marie Guerraty, md, phd

Assistant Professor
Dept. of Medicine, Div. of Cardiovascular Medicine
University of Pennsylvania


FOCUS Small Research Project Title | Developmental isoform FOG2S regulates cardiac angiogenic gene expression


FOCUS

Stephanie Lindsey, phd

Assistant Professor
Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
University of California, San Diego


FOCUS Small Research Project Title | Mechano-genetic Investigation of Great Vessel Formation


FOCUS

Luz Padilla, md

Assistant Professor
Department of Epidemiology & Surgery
University of Alabama at Birmingham


FOCUS Small Research Project Title | Inflammatory Sequelae in Kawasaki Disease Children using Electronic Medical Records


FOCUS

Celestine Wanjalla, md, phd

Assistant Professor
Dept. of Medicine, Div. of Infectious Diseases
Vanderbilt University


FOCUS Small Research Project Title | B Cell Subsets and Atherosclerosis in Persons with HIV


FOCUS

Junie (Paula) Warrington, phd

Associate Professor
Department of Neurology
University of Mississippi Medical Center


FOCUS Small Research Project Title | Preeclampsia and Offspring Neurovascular and Cognitive Dysfunction


2020-2021 Participants

FOCUS

Oscar abilez, md, phd, ms

Senior Scientist
Dept. of Cardiothoracic Surgery
Stanford University


FOCUS Small Research Project Title | Elucidating the Role of NOTCH1 in Impaired Cardiogenesis in Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome Using Vascularized Cardiac Tissue Derived from Human Pluripotent Stem Cells


Francisco Altamirano

Francisco Altamirano, phd

Assistant Professor
Department of Cardiovascular Sciences
Houston Methodist Research Institute & the Weill Cornell Medical College


FOCUS Small Research Project Title | Regulation of Glycogen Synthase Kinase 3 by Polycystin-1 in cardiomyocytes


Francisco Alvarado

Francisco alvarado, pharmd, phd

Assistant Professor
Dept. of Medicine, Cardiovascular Research Center
University of Wisconsin-Madison


FOCUS Small Research Project Title | Regulation of cardiac ryanodine receptors by a novel phosphorylation mechanism


Irene Cal Y Mayor Turnbull

Irene Cal Y Mayor Turnbull, Md

Assistant Professor
Cardiovascular Research Institute
Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai


FOCUS Small Research Project Title | Expression of calcium cycling proteins in fibroblast-supplemented engineered cardiac tissues


Kristine Deleon-Pennell

Kristine Deleon-Pennell, PhD

Associate Professor
Dept. of Medicine, Division of Cardiology
Medical University of South Carolina


FOCUS Small Research Project Title | Chronic inflammation induced mediators of cardiac remodeling


Demetria McNeal

Demetria mcneal, phd, mba

Assistant Professor
Dept. of Medicine, Div. of General Internal Medicine
University of Colorado, Anschutz Medical Campus


FOCUS Small Research Project Title | Racial differences and the mediating effect of psychosocial stressors on antiplatelet, statin, and antihypertensive utilization and abnormal ankle-brachial index


Sam Senyo

Sam Senyo, PHD

Assistant Professor
Department of Biomedical Engineering
Case Western Reserve University


FOCUS Small Research Project Title | De novo ECM from Hyperglycemic Fibroblasts Drives Cardiomyocyte Insulin Resistance


Nathaly Sweeney

Nathaly Sweeney, MD, MPH, MS

Assistant Clinical Professor
Dept. of Pediatrics, Division of Neonatology
University of California, San Diego


FOCUS Small Research Project Title | Improving diagnosis and management of structural congenital heart disease through genomic sequencing


2019-2020 Participants

Francisco Contijoch

Francisco Contijoch, phd, mse

Assistant Professor
Dept. of Bioengineering, Dept. of Radiology
University of California, San Diego


FOCUS Small Research Project Title | Imaging-based prediction of surgical level of thromboembolic material in patients with CTEPH


Cerrone Foster

Cerrone Foster, Phd

Associate Professor
Department of Biological Sciences
East Tennessee State University


FOCUS Small Research Project Title | The role of ceveolin-1 in the post-menopausal ischemic heart


Miguel Lopez-Ramirez

Miguel Lopez-Ramirez, PhD, MSC

Assistant Professor
Dept. of Medicine, Div. of Rheumatology, Allergy, & Immunology
University of California, San Diego


FOCUS Small Research Project Title | Mechanism of hypoxia induced exacerbation of cerebral cavernous malformations


Maria Mendez

Mariela mendez, phd, ms

Assistant Professor
Hypertension and Vascular Research Division
Henry Ford Hospital


FOCUS Small Research Project Title | Role of cytokines and chemokines in kidney macrophage infiltration and pro-renin release in diabetes


FOCUS

Joshua Muia, Phd

Assistant Professor
Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology
Oklahoma State University Center for Health Sciences


FOCUS Small Research Project Title | Identification of novel protein substrates for the atherogenic metalloprotease ADAMTS7


Sonya Neal

Sonya Neal, PHD

Assistant Professor
School of Biological Sciences, Dept. of Cell & Developmental Biology
University of California, San Diego


FOCUS Small Research Project Title | Mechanism of cholesterol regulation by the ER protein degradation pathway


Candice Price

Candice Price, Phd

Program Director
Division of Cardiovascular Sciences
National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute


FOCUS Small Research Project Title | Investigating the effects of beverages containing high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) on gut microbiome in healthy adults


Paola Ross

Paola Rosas, Md, Phd

Assistant Professor
College of Pharmacy
University of Illinois at Chicago


FOCUS Small Research Project Title | P21-activated kinase as a novel regulator for adiposity and cardiac function in females


Elsie Ross

Elsie Ross, Md, MSc

Assistant Professor
Department of Surgery, Department of Medicine
Stanford University


FOCUS Small Research Project Title | Toward developing automated risk stratification tools for peripheral artery disease


Daniel Valdez-Jasso

Daniela valdez-jasso, phd, ms

Associate Professor
Department of Bioengineering
University of California, San Diego


FOCUS Small Research Project Title | Pulmonary arterial adventitial fibroblast substrate-varying phenotype


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